Too Late to Save
by theoliverogue
Summary: Karkat and Nepeta, matesprits, fight and have yet to apologize to one another. But before they can, Gamzee runs out of sopor slime. Can Karkat find Nepeta, or will he be too late to save? Sadstuck, Katnep, Oneshot! Rated T to be safe.


Karkat watched as olive tears sprung to her eyes. He had just finished yelling at her, yet he still felt filled with anger toward her. She began to sob, but he felt no remorse. He turned around, as sort of a dismissive gesture, and she ran out, her face in her hands and tears falling down her face. He heard the door slam shut behind her, and then it was silent in his hive once more. He paced the floor, musing over what had happened. He had just yelled at his matesprit. It was, of course, justified in his mind, yet some part of it bothered him greatly. They had never really fought like this before, or rather, he had never lost control like this. _But it was within reason! _He kept telling himself, and eventually he stopped thinking about it. _I'll apologize later, when she comes back. _He thought. But she never did.

It just so happened, that a certain highblooded troll ran out of sopor slime earlier that day, and things around the meteor were never the same. Karkat could have never foreseen this, however, and later went up to the lab, where he witnessed the murder of two of his friends by a certain troll later named a "UGLY SCARFNECKED DOUCHEBAG HIPSTER" by Karkat himself. He then put Equius on the case to find Gamzee, whom he now knew was on a murderous rampage, while he began a search for Terezi, who went missing. This would prove a fatal mistake, however, as Nepeta was with Equius at the time, and would be left alone as he went off to seek the highblood.

Nepeta had run off to Equius after Karkat's explosive reaction. There, her moirail had comforted her and insisted that it wasn't her fault, though Nepeta remained convinced that it was. She was now in his hive, contemplating when she should return to Karkat's and apologize, while Equius was busy talking with the other trolls on Trollian. She sat on the floor, lost in thought. _I should go see him and apologize. No, but what if he's still mad at me? But wouldn't it be better to go sooner, rather than later?_ She was distracted from her thoughts when she heard the sound of Equius getting up. He explained that Gamzee was finally realizing his potential as a highblood and was killing other trolls. She didn't really believe him, but promised to hide anyways and keep a lookout for Eridan and Vriska, who had also killed other trolls earlier that day. They said their goodbyes, and Equius left. Reluctantly, she went into her hive to wait, but soon grew bored and crawled into the air ducts to try to figure out what was going on.

Looking through the vents, she could see the places covered in blood. In one room, written in blood that suspiciously resembled Tavros's blood color, was the message, "Are you next?" with Gamzee's signature smilie. Nepeta was confused. Next for what? She continued on, past some broken transportalizer pads with jade colored grub sauce on them, and into the next set of vents. There, she watched, horrified. Equius fell, an arrow through his knee, into a kneeling position in front of Gamzee. Gamzee walked toward him, breaking Equius's bow as he came closer. He wrapped the bow string around Equius's neck and pulled, strangling him. He met no resistance. Equius's face slowly turned blue. He smiled, and then he fell, lifeless onto the ground. Nepeta watched, waiting for Equius to move from the unnatural position in which he lay, but he was still. She knew he was dead. Enraged at the death of her moirail, she crashed through the grate and pounced. Gamzee drew his clubs. In one smooth motion, he grabbed Nepeta's wrist as she flew through the air toward him and slashed his own face before letting go and sending her crashing to the ground. Now terrified, she looked up at him as he raised the club over his head. It descended in slow motion, and Nepeta closed her eyes to the pain, focusing instead on the images flashing through her mind.

She saw her lusus, Pounce de Leon, when she was growing up, learning how to hunt and survive on her own. She saw her shipping wall, which was maintained throughout her life. She saw her first interactions with Equius, and their long conversations on Trollian. She almost laughed as she remembered the countless times he scolded her for not behaving like her blood caste should, and for talking to lower blooded trolls. It was hard to imagine that at one point she was afraid of him. She saw how she first fell for Karkat, and the first time they had spoken. The first time they had kissed. _Oh, Karkat, _she thought, _I've always loved you, and I always will. I'll miss you. I'm sorry I didn't get to say goodbye, or even apologize for earlier. I hope you aren't still mad at me. _Gamzee was gone now. Nepeta barely registered the pain throughout her whole body, or the warm, sticky blood that was pooling around her. She looked over at Equius, smiling even when he knew he was going to die. _I want to smile when I'm gone, just like him._

Karkat ran through the halls of the meteor. He was stupid, so, so stupid. How could he have let this happen? He had known Nepeta would be with Equius, and yet he sent Equius to search for Gamzee, leaving her alone with three murderers still uncaught. What kind of matesprit was he? He rushed through the corridors to the hive she shared with Equius and burst in. He called out to her, desperately searching for her, but she was gone. He was beginning to panic now. Where was she? Had she gone with Equius? Surely not. But he had searched everywhere, and if she wasn't here, then where? He left their hive and began searching through the empty rooms closest to the door. They all seemed to be empty. And then, he opened the final door. There was green everywhere. The wrong shade of green. He didn't want to see this much olive. He saw Equius, dead beside her, blue-faced after being strangled with his own broken bow. An arrow stuck out from his knee and was dripping his blue-tinted blood. But it was an insignificant amount in comparison to the olive around it.

His eyes rested on her last. He wished it was a dream. Some kind of sick nightmare. But as he ran over and knelt beside her, he knew it wasn't. There was too much blood. And her dreamself, like everyone else's, was gone. There would be no saving her. He took her broken and beaten body into his arms, lifting her carefully, as though she was made of glass and would break if he moved her to fast. Warm, red tears fell from his eyes as he watched her chest move faintly up and down. The slightest motion to tell him she was still alive, at least, for now.

"I'm sorry Nepeta. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, and I'm sorry for not coming to apologize. Oh, god Nepeta. Nepeta…" His words trailed off as he sobbed. There didn't seem to be enough words to tell her how sorry he was, and how he loved her. Nothing seemed to sound right, nothing was good enough. But yet he continued, because he knew his time was limited. "I love you Nepeta, and I should have saved you. I shouldn't have to say all this because you should be alive. Well, you are alive, but this isn't how it should be. You should be in my hive and I should be protecting you from them… From him. But I was stupid and I let you leave and I yelled at you… Oh, god Nepeta, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. And I love you. I love you so much."

At these words, the still partially awake cat-troll shifted slightly, painfully so she was leaning against his chest, and began to purr. It was gargled and broken, but Karkat knew she had heard him, and forgave him. He continued to cry, holding her as tight as he dared as she purred. And then, she smiled, and she was still.


End file.
